Life insurers' odds of being placed under regulatory control (for example, conservatorship or receivership) during the financial crisis years of 2008 and 2009 increased with deteriorating fundamentals at a much higher rate than during normal times or during the previous recession. However, no...

This paper develops a model of banking to study the risk-taking consequences of contingent capital (CC). It begins with the observation that partial conversion of CC provides its owners with a portfolio of equity and debt. Since the former (latter) asset typically induces a preference for risk...